Brain Tan Buckskin Demostrations

Want to learn what to do with all those old deer hides you have in the freezer? How about turning them into the nicest clothing you'll ever put on. You came to the right place, my friend.

I’ve done on-site brain-tan demonstrations for a number of years. If you would like me to do a demonstration at your event, email me here. I bring all my own supplies and demo material, but running water is nice. And an area where I can dig a hole or two and put some temporary poles is good, but not necessary.

Due to demand, I have started providing some books and tools for sale. But what I do is still 99% demonstration. I don't sell buckskins, but you can get the tools and the skills. It's not rocket science folks, it's better. This Stone Age technology has been around a lot longer.

Here are some pictures from the 2004 Paynes Prairie Knap-In and Primitive Arts Festival in Micanopy, FL. I've been doing this demo with my good friend David McCracken for seven years. The highlight of the gathering is "school day" on Friday. In 2004 we had over 800 students attend. The Knap-in received an award that year for the Florida State Parks "Event of the Year" and was discontinued after the 2006 event. I

Cabling a hide. Just one of the steps that gives a buckskin that buttery-soft feel.

David is wringing while I explain the process to some interested young guys.

David scraping. We demonstrate the dry-scrape method.

What a great day we had. There were always interested folks stopping by, some more than once to see how we are progressing.

Sometimes we pick up a highly motivated brain-tanner. This is Ron, below,on the breaker bar, while David scrapes and I pull and talk. You can see the tools and picture display on the table.

Nothing like tandem wringing to do a little team-building. Folks, there are better ways to do this, but we make do with the tools we have.